Participatory design of business models

Abstract. The recent focus on user-driven innovation and open innovation signals a shift of concerns beyond the new product or service it self. The very model of how to make business is at play in most innovation projects today, in particular with the advent of Internet commerce. There are already examples of participatory design methods being applied to open up the process of business modeling to a wider circle of actors than those marketing managers that typically devise new business schemes. Traditional manufacturing companies with conventional product sales are challenged to consider alternative business models. Public organizations are under increasing pressure to consider themselves a business, with all that this entails in terms of new terminology.

To allow people without formal business education to take part in business model discussions means moving beyond text and spreadsheets. Designers can play a crucial role here. But participatory design of business models could sound like a contradiction in terms: Do the designers side with the exploiting rather than the exploited?

This workshop invites participants to bring experience from projects where business issues were part of the participatory negotiation, and to hone their position on the larger question of the role of PD in innovation.